User:Aliylo/report

I had never really used Wikipedia before this class. I would not even click on the links recommended to me by Google in thanks to teachers always telling me that it was unreliable. Wikipedia was the book report strain of the cheese touch. I did not see it actually used until the principal investigator (PI) for the lab that I work in clicked on the link for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) article to overview the information.

I did enjoy my overall Wikipedia experience despite encountering a few roadblocks. There are so many rules on Wikipedia: be bold, assume good intentions, be free and accessible, sign your messages “~,” and be kind to newcomers to name a few. However, it is really difficult to understand all of these rules, even with the industrialized socialization method that we went through with WikiEd. It was helpful to go through the Wikipedia modules as a cohort and learn the norms, theoretically slowly integrating us into the larger Wikipedia community. But, despite going through the modules, I found talking with the TA to be the most helpful when it came to implement the ideas (i.e. neutral perspective) that were taught in the modules.

To understand what this socialization process was like for newcomers who did not go through the class or WikiEd project, I asked a few friends (ages 18-21) to try to edit Wikipedia themselves. It was a bit of an adventure. It took them a minute to actually figure out how to edit the article. Having it automatically open to the source editing page is jarring. A lot of people believed that they were in the wrong place. Looking at the source editor for the first time feels like trying to read another language. All of the commands are still there. The citations are fully written out. There are no pictures. As a result, I think that it would help by opening to the visual editor, allowing people to see something that they are familiar with, making them more comfortable and their experience more positive thereby increasing the likelihood of them coming back. Ultimately, this change will likely have little impact on the more experienced editors as it is easy to alternate between visual and source editor.

Although industrialized socialization tends to also rely on bonds-based commitment, as exemplified through a freshman class going through orientation and then classes together, there was not really any interaction with my classmates through Wikipedia. Despite knowing that we were all going through the learning process together, it felt very individualized. Although it is helpful to work through the tutorials, it is difficult to see how a user within the WikiEd class is a member of the larger Wikipedia community. Intellectually, I know that I am participating in the Wikipedia community, but it did not feel that way. To me, the Wikipedia community appears to already be made, like it is not meant for people who are trying to edit for the first time outside of maybe fixing a typo.

To further emphasize a bonds-based commitment between classmates and the community as a whole, it may help to have a Q and A section for each class allowing them to work through problems together, creating a stronger sense of community. Furthermore, the professor or TA could answer a question to the whole class rather than each person individually, or an “outside” Wikipedian could answer the question, providing newcomers with a positive interaction within the community. This would also help expose those participating through WikiEd to the larger community more quickly, helping them to see that this is a community that they can actually access.

Additionally, I do think that having some sort of introductory tutorial would be beneficial to retain new editors and help them adhere to norms as I had a lot of difficulty navigating the site. It could be helpful to have the tutorial—similar to the ones in video games—be a walk-through to help associate participants with the most important functions. This sunk cost would help with socializing newcomers by assisting them to understand the norms and act similar to a CAPTCHA as it would be an entry barrier, helping to dissuade spammers. However, this separation task would also discourage less committed and “drive-by editors” from participating. Since having an entry barrier goes against Wikipedia principles of allowing anyone to easily edit, it would be very difficult to implement this.

As a result, having different colored labels or sticky notes show up to highlight the important features and aspects of Wikipedia at-a-glance when someone is either editing for the first time or without an account may be a nice compromise. This would provide a brief overview for newcomers and help prevent norm violations in addition to not dissuading the “drive-by” participant and potentially further integrating them into the Wikipedia community through the foot-in-door phenomenon. However, since this would decrease the entry barrier compared to having a mandatory, automatic tutorial, it would also not work as well to discourage those acting in bad faith: It would not cost them as time outside of clicking the “x” button.

It could also help to have a talk/ help bubble on the bottom right—similar to those on shopping sites—connecting new users with a program automated to answer generalized questions, further helping to prevent clueless users from unintentionally committing norm violations or vandalizing the page despite acting in good faith. I found asking my TA to be more helpful than the help page as I often could not find what I needed help with.

Although, Wikipedia has been characterized as being “unreliable” because anyone can edit it, the converse is also true because people worldwide edit it with the help of bots-- something that I hope to help with. This intense focus on collaboration and free and open access to information/ editing is unique to Wikipedia. Furthermore, there is something rather satisfying about editing an article.